Always wanted to travel with a Roman
by regenerate-me
Summary: Amy has left Rory to run off with the Doctor. But now he's traveling with the tenth doctor to make sense of everything. Who knows what could happen?
1. Chapter 1

He couldn't believe it. Even after he had watched it all unfold before his own eyes he couldn't make himself accept what had just happened. Amy had flown away in that damned blue box with that damned Doctor leaving nothing behind but the feeling of her lips on his cheek and her wedding ring in his hand. He turned it over in his hands while replaying the events over in his mind.  
><em>"Rory, I have to go with the Doctor." Amy said deliberately. If there was ever a moment she lived up to her Scottish heritage, it was now. So stubborn. So beautifully stubborn it could drive a bloke mad.<br>"And risk your life for him some more? What about our daughter? What about me?" Rory replied with his voice shaking, holding her face between his hands and searching her eyes for something that he could use to change her mind.  
>"We've seen how River turns out. She has the whole universe to look forward to. But he's all alone. He gave up Rose and then he found me and we started running. I'm all he has. " her voice trailed off as she tried to keep thoughts of her raggedy Doctor loving someone else at bay. She knew this was hard enough for Rory and her jealousy would only make the wound she was creating deeper. She swallowed hard and returned her focus to her husband.<br>"Maybe you're all I have, too? Did you ever consider that?" he snapped at her. He didn't mean for his words to be full of venom, but it was all he could do to even speak. His heart was a lump in his throat, blocking oxygen from his lungs. Everything was becoming hazy and he felt as if he was falling backwards down a bottomless well that had opened up on the floor of their bedroom. Amy wrapped her hands around Rory's wrists and brought him back to her. She looked at him and took a breath before she continued on._

_ "You know that's not true. You have family here. And a career! And patients who need you. This is your own little universe to save, but this isn't my universe anymore. Please understand. And Rory..." she paused and pulled his hands away from her face. "The Roman who waited for me, I love you."  
>With that she slid her wedding ring off her finger, placed it into his palm and kissed him goodbye. He stood there frozen, staring at the ring and touching the place on his cheek where he had last felt Amy's skin on his for the last time. His trance was broken by the vworp vworp of the TARDIS. He ran to the window and watched the blue box disappear into thin air taking his Amy along. That damned blue box and that damned Doctor. <em>

Rory took a deep breath and slowly sat down edge of the bed. He touched his cheek again and realized somewhere in these chain of events tears had sprung from his eyes. He dropped his head into his hands as he tried desperately to figure out where to go from this point. After a several hours of complete silence and stillness, he couldn't bear to be in the room he once shared with his wife; _his Amy._ He slowly stood up and began to leave. That's when he heard it. He shrugged it off as his poor heart playing tricks on him to keep it from completely shattering. And then he heard it again. The sound stopped him dead in his tracks. As he turned around to peer out the window, he heard it again. He ran out of his bedroom, raced down the stairs and flew through the house until he reached the door leading out to the back yard. He held is breath and prepared himself for what was waiting for him outside. He turned the knob and flung the door open.  
>For the second time that day, he was unable to wrap his mind around the events playing out before him. The sounds he heard, the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking sounds came from the TARDIS landing almost exactly where it had left that morning. But something was different. The blue was a little brighter and the door was missing the Saint John's Hospital logo. Was it a different TARDIS? Could there even be another TARDIS? He shook his head. After all, even if their was another TARDIS, who else would be mad enough to disguise it as a police box? Rory carefully began to shorten the distance between him and the strange thing in his back yard. As he reached for the handle, the door opened and he stood face to face with a tall, skinny, almost Scottish-looking fellow wearing a pinstripe suit and trainers, who seemed to be just as confused as Rory was himself.<br>"Who are you? And why do you have a TARDIS?" he asked, looking him up and down.  
>"Oh, right. I guess the least I can do after flattening your garden is introduce myself. 'Ello, I'm The Doctor. But how do you know about the TARDIS?" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and gave him a quick scan. He looked at the result with a puzzled look on his face.<br>"I'm Rory Williams..."  
>"Rory. Rory the Roman with the gun inside his hand," the Doctor finished. "But what is a Roman with a gun inside his hand doing on Earth and how does he know about my spaceship?"<br>"It's kind of a long story but I used to travel in one of... those. But it was different."  
>Both men were were stumped as to how and why the other was standing before him, knowing so much about each other and so little about what brought them together. A horrible thought entered Rory's mind and he took a step closer to the man claiming to be the Doctor.<br>"Did you die and regenerate and come here? What about Amy? Where is she? _Where is my wife?" _He hoped that somehow there was another explanation but he could think of what it could possibly be. Not that he could think with rage surging through every part of his body anyway.  
>"No! I haven't regenerated in four years! And who's Amy? Why would she be with me? I'm not even sure why I'm here! This is just where the TARDIS decided to land." Even the clever Doctor was stumped.<br>"Amy Pond. Amelia? Scottish, ginger, gorgeous. Flew off with the Doctor this morning and now you're here saying you're the Doctor and you have the same spaceship but the blue is a little different and there's something missing from that door..." Rory explained a situation he couldn't comprehend as best as he could as the other Doctor paced back in forth in front of him. He was hit with a sudden realization.  
>"I don't remember her! Brilliant!" he said enthusiastically.<br>"How is that a good thing?" Rory retorted, half angry and half confused.  
>"If I don't remember her then that means I haven't met her yet. So she's safe with my future self somewhere in space. I thought I was just going bonkers. I'm only nine-hundred and six!" he chuckled and turned back to Rory who didn't seem to be as comforted by the news. The Doctor turned towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she's fine, Rory. I only take the best."<p>

Rory tried to believe that. But after years of traveling with her and the Doctor he knew how many close calls they had and how many times Amy had been the one saving the day. His heart ached at the fact that he had no way of knowing where she was. Or when she was for that matter. He was trapped in his own personal Pandorica. The Doctor stood by, watching these thoughts churn through Rory's mind. It became clear to him that whatever happened between Rory and Amy was fresh, but it was the answer to why the TARDIS had brought him here and he needed to know more.  
>"Rory, I need to know what happened between you and Amy and, well, me."<br>"I... it's a long story..."  
>"I'm not sure we have time for a long story. If you can just let me see inside your head, I can get the information I need and maybe help you get your wife back."<br>Rory's heart leaped back into his throat. He could get his beautiful, mad, stubborn Amy back. But could he trust this Doctor?  
><em>"Do I have a choice?" <em>he thought to himself. He looked up at the strange man with the strange TARDIS and nodded. The Doctor stepped towards Rory and put his hands on the sides of his head.  
>When he did, he saw jumbled memories flashing before his eyes. A little boy dressed up in a raggedy suit and tie, little girl drawing pictures of the TARDIS and a man he assumed was his next self, daleks, weeping angels, a wedding, the inside of the TARDIS as he had never seen it before, the archeologist he met before, the events of that morning, the beautiful red-headed Scottish girl; everything.<br>The Doctor pulled his hands away and turned back to the TARDIS. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. He realized a few seconds alter that Rory didn't follow him.  
>"Well, are you coming or not? We've got to find that wife of yours somehow."<br>"Uh, yeah, of course. Just give me a minute." Rory said as he headed back to his house to grab the necessities: the red velvet ring box Amy kept her ring in when they traveled on the TARDIS together and a picture of their family. He headed back outside, locking the doors to his former home behind him. He still wasn't sure if he could trust this Doctor but what did he have to lose? He entered the TARDIS to see the Doctor pushing buttons and pulling levers, preparing to fly them through time and space.  
>"Ah, welcome back Rory the Roman. You know, I always wanted to travel with a Roman."<br>Rory looked around the control room. Everything was so familiar even though it was all so different.  
>"So where are we going?" he asked.<br>"Well," the Doctor replied fiddling with nobs and other things that didn't really look like they would fly a vehicle that could travel through time and space. "We go where ever my future self would go. And by the way... Is my future self ginger?"

Rory let out a small laugh at the hopefulness the Doctor exuded from the prospect of having red hair and comparing it to how much Amy hated it growing up.  
>"No, you've still got the same color." Rory replied. The Doctor shrugged and pressed a few more buttons.<br>"Well never mind that, off we go. Allons-y!"


	2. Chapter 2

The TARDIS shook as it began to take off into space. Or time. Or maybe even a combination of the two. Rory was unsure where they could possibly be going. He watched The Doctor concentrate on adjusting bits and bobs on the console. Just like this new-but-old TARDIS, the Doctor was so familiar but so different. He donned a pinstriped suit and tie and another ridiculous hair do. He was energetic and talked just as much as he did when Rory traveled with him before. Well, as he _will._ But he was much more adult-like and less impulsive. He seemed to carry the weight of a great loss on his shoulders. Rory couldn't help but sympathize with the new-but-old Doctor, even if he would some day be the cause of Amy walking out on him. He pushed the thought out of his mind and walked towards the console.  
>"So, where exactly are we going?" Rory asked. The Doctor was staring at the monitor through his glasses and his forehead was furrowed in a deep concentration.<br>"Well, it's a bit complicated. I'm sure you're aware that I can't go back and in time to change my own time line. It would create a paradox and could very well cause the universe to collapse." The Doctor explained as he looked back and forth from the monitor to what his hands were doing.  
>"In all fairness, you've already done that." Rory replied. His mind went back to the two thousand years he spent waiting for Amy while she was in the Pandorica; how he held Amy as she watched the Doctor trade places with her. He wished River had been right when she told them they would wake up where they were supposed to be with no memory of any of it, or of the Doctor. That memory of River then sparked the realization that Rory had yet to find his daughter and tell her what had happened. He wasn't sure how far back she went with the Doctor but if anyone could find her, it would be him.<br>"Do you know River Song?" he asked.  
>"How do you know Professor Song?" The Doctor inquired with his eyebrows raised.<br>"Uh, she's our daughter. Me and Amy's. She's a doctor though, not a professor." Rory shifted uncomfortably as he mentioned Amy's name. "But that means you know her then?"  
>"I met her once. In a library. Well, a planet that is a library. All the people disappeared. She sent me a message on psychic paper so I popped in. She kicked in the doors with a group of archeologist. Wouldn't leave no matter what I said." he explained.<br>"She's just like her mum." Rory said with a half-hearted smile. He could only imagine what his daughter could have done to the Doctor that didn't know her yet.  
>"She knew me, though. I'd never seen her before but she knew all about me. And... she knew my name."<br>Rory paused before he spoke again. He knew River would scold him for telling the Doctor spoilers. And he didn't want to be the cause of a universe collapsing paradox. But he feared that the consequences of not telling him would be worse.  
>"Because you're married. River Song will be your wife some day. When you met her, she already was."<br>The Doctor fell silent. How could he be so thick to try and make himself believe she could know his name any other way? He hit one more button on the TARDIS console then turned and walked away. He disappeared into one of the corridors leading out of the control room. He kept going until he reached the library. He walked to an inconspicuous desk in one of the corners of the room and opened the drawer in the center. Inside was River's blue diary, and her sonic screwdriver. He picked up the diary and looked at it. A book full of his future. But it needed a little readjusting.  
>"I'm so sorry, River." he whispered to the little blue book.<br>In the control room, Rory's stomach was in knots. He looked down at the picture in his hands of his wife and daughter. It had been taken a few weeks after the wedding. The three of them looked like a a happy, normal family. Rory could never have imagined things turning out like this. He'd already lost Amy to one Doctor. He hoped he hadn't lost his daughter to another. She was all he really had left.  
>A few minutes later, the Doctor walked back into the room. In his hands was River's diary. Rory felt his heart in his throat again. River kept that diary on her at every moment.<br>"Why do you have that?" He barely managed to squeak out the words.  
>"The day I met River is the day she died. She hooked herself up to the hard drive of the library's computer so she could rescue four thousand people saved in it as energy signatures. I tried to stop her but I was a little... tied up. But I saved her, sort of. She's in the hard drive now, living in a virtual world." the Doctor explained. "Now we have to rescue her. And we have to find your wife. So we're going to use River's diary to do both. But I need your permission as her father. And my father-in-law."<br>He handed the diary over to Rory who cradled it in his hands. He opened it slowly and flipped through the pages of his daughter's memories. What choice did he have but to say yes? He nodded his head and handed it back to the Doctor. He turned through the pages trying to find somewhere to start their search. Rory stepped out of the Doctor's way so he could resume running around the TARDIS console, pushing and pulling and turning things as he went. Something flickering across the monitor and the sound of static caught his attention. He watched the monitor intently trying to figure out what he had missed. It flickered across the screen again; a thin white line followed again by the sound of static. Something about it made him wary. It stirred up memories he didn't know he had.  
>"How could a little line be familiar? Why can't I remember?" he said said to himself quietly.<br>"Did you say something?" The Doctor said from the opposite side of the console.  
>"I was just thinking out loud. It's nothing." Rory replied trying to shake the uneasy feelings. "I do have a question though. How are we going use River's diary if it's all things that happened in the past? Isn't that against the rules of time and space or something?"<br>"Well, it'll be tricky since it's your past. But it's my future. So if we go into it with the intention of changing my future the universe shouldn't collapse. Still a plan in progress though." The Doctor said feeling clever.  
>"Shouldn't?" Rory said.<br>"Like I said, plan in progress." The Doctor replied.  
>"Right. Same as ever." Rory said dryly.<br>"Rory, if we're going to save your daughter and your wife, I need you to trust me. I know that you're angry with me right now but the version of me that's with you now is one that hasn't done anything to hurt you yet. And I'm going to need your help." he said. His voice was serious but gentle.  
>"Alright." Rory agreed sheepishly. He knew he was right even if he didn't want to admit it. I'll try."<br>"Right. So what we're going to do is travel to the library, go into the dream world, find River and then bring her back to the real world with us." the Doctor said with renewed spirits. "Off we go!"  
>The Doctor flipped one last switch and they were off in the direction of the library planet to rescue his daughter. He tried to calm his nerves and collect himself. He knew that when they landed, he was going to have to be able to handle anything in order to begin piecing his family back together. He was the man of the family and now, more than ever, he needed to be the part. The TARDIS landed on the porch in front of the library's entrance. The two men grabbed what they needed and headed out. They walked up the set of stairs leading from the porch to a pair of large wooden doors with the library on the other side. The Doctor soniced the lock open and looked at Rory before opening them.<br>"Ready?" He asked.  
>Rory swallowed hard and nodded. <em>I'm as ready as I'll ever be,<em> he thought as he watched the doors swing open.


End file.
